Chapter Seven
Connections with Facilitating Learner Autonomy, Language Proficiency, and the Teacher/Researcher’s Daily Grind
Main author contact
Stacey Vye, Associate Professor, Center for English Education and Development (CEED), Saitama University, 255 Shimo-okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama-shi, Saitama-ken, 338-8570, Japan
Abstract
This narrative chapter explores previous research related to autonomy and language proficiency as a backdrop for observing the progress of 20 students at a public university in Japan who volunteered to learn English together over a 23-week period. A good part of the chapter focuses on how language study designed autonomously by the learners contributes to their greater language proficiency as measured by pre- and post-IELTS test in each of the four-skills areas of the test. Factors considered include the duration of time they spend studying English, as well as the different stages provided for the learners to develop their autonomous English proficiency skills. The chapter also includes student review of their studies after the post-test, and the author's reflections on her experiences working with the students in this study. It concludes with a personal reflection on the institutional challenges that the author faced in creating and running this course, and on the author’s wider emotional journey in conducting this project in a trying daily grind as teacher-researcher.
要旨
本章は自律学習と言語能力についての先行研究に基づき、２３週間の英語学習グループに自主参加した２０名の国立大学在籍の学生について考察したナラティブである。IELTSを用いた事前・事後測定により、四技能における各学生の言語能力が自身の立てた学習計画により推移した度合を分析し、特に学習者が英語学習に費やした時間と自律学習の過程において学習者に提供された発達段階に着目した。さらに事後テスト後の学習者自身の振り返りと本研究における筆者自身の役割について省察し、最後に本研究を実施するにあたり直面した課題とその過程における教師・研究者としての筆者自身の成長過程をも省察する。
Key words
learner autonomy, language proficiency, out-of-class learning, reflection, IELTS
自律学習、言語能力、教室外の学び、省察、IELTS